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The walk to democracy By: Musa V. Sheriff 24 June, 2010 The 1990s was a decade of war, political violence and economic stagnation throughout the Mano River Basin. The cause of these troubles could be explained from many paradigms. Perhaps one could make sense of the so-called Structural Adjustment Program, or the lack of responsible leaderships. Whatever dimensions one may seek to explain the decade of instability in the Sub-region could make sense. But one thing that is cleared today is that, the Sub-region is on the walk to democracy.
Peace and stability are essential to both regional and national development. It could be used as an instrument to measure the progress of individuals’ lives. But is it all about free and fair election? Is that the end of the long and appalling story? No. We need to build vibrate political future, and minimize the chances of returning back to non-democracy. This is the challenge faced by all nations in the Mano River Basin: Democratic consolidation. Then what is democratic consolidation? In brief, all major political actors, parties, military and institutions should believe that there is no alternative to democracy. In order to preserve this ideology, all nations in the sub-region are faced with four common challenges: Civilian control over the military, restructuring and training bureaucrats, promoting the growth of active civil society, and improving ties with the international community. Civilian control over the military is the most difficult step in the process. Liberia and Sierra seem to be making progress in this direction. Civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone might help to explain this, unlike in Guinea. That is why most political analysts are worried about the aftermath of Guinea’s election. Guinea has much more to do than any other nation in the Sub-region. The difficulty with Guinea’s case is centered on two things: Military and wealth, Military and social honour. In simple terms money and power enjoy by the military. Is free and fair election the end of the story in Guinea? How does an elected civilian president deal with such situations? I am wondering and also encourage you to wonder along with me. Now let’s discuss the two social phenomena I fear in Guinea: wealth and social honour enjoy by military. After 26 years of communist rule under the dictatorship of Sekou Toure, the military ceased power in 1984. Guinean military has enjoyed power and wealth for over 24 years. They enjoy the fruit of corruption that has broken the social fabrics of the nation. It will be no surprise to learn that most senior military officers hold illegitimate shares in those lucrative mining contracts. Alas, they have created a situation that deprives thousands of Guineans of food, school, health care and other basic needs. Yet, they seem to be happy with the status quos. But this horrible and appalling status quo was not only created by the military. If we further make sense of how the status quo was created and preserved. It could be reasonable to say that Guinea’s problem is not only the military. In fact, most ministers and senior bureaucrats in Conte’s regime were civilians. They heartlessly contributed to destroy the economy of the country. They failed to respect the ethic of good governance. They embezzled millions of dollars. Now how can the population and the military trust those so-called political leaders? How can they transform themselves into credible leaders? This seems to be a difficult task for Guinean politicians. Despite, however their heartless contribution to Guinea’s problem, a civilian leader is far better than a military one. But they will have to re-build trust and confidence with the people and the military. I am sure the first civilian government to be elected this come June 27th might do not very well in dealing with these problems. It requires time, resources, commitment and some smart political decisions making. The process might be very slow and long. Then, what need to be done? First, the new government must demonstrate a strong sense of responsibility and maturity. Second, it must illustrate serious commitment to the fight against corruption, and fosters good governance. Once they start to demonstrate such responsibilities, then the military role in national politics and economy can be addressed. Negotiation with senior military officers is a pivotal part of the process. They must be educated about the consequences of what it means to have a comeback to military rule. Most senior military officers must be given enough retirement packages. Ask them to retire, and give them some social community services to do, for example engage them in communal farming or sport. By doing this, you are slowly disengaging them from politics. Humiliating them might create troubles and quandaries. So if we rush to curtail all the wealth and social honour enjoy by the military, and push them into the barracks or garrison, and replace them with some horrible political dictators. No doubt there will be comeback of such situation.
Another
important step is to restructure the military. New professional minded,
perhaps trained university graduates should be integrated into the
military to replace the old and illiterate ones. In fact, when most
people start to see their living standard improving, military leadership
will become very unpopular in our society. I know my proposal seem to be
very hard to achieve. But it might be a workable solution in any context
that has similar scenario like Guinea. A piece of advice given to me by a friend of mine, a Canadian politician: The best thing a politician can do is to still out of trouble. Take a pause and think about this...
Musa V. Sheriff |
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Mandingo
Nations Webite Incorp. |
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